Ah? The cultural notes say that's ill mannered. It's supposedly to be put on the fish only not the sauce.

I wrote that question while munching on some sushi. One had eel with plenty of sauce, so I didn't bother using the soy with it. But the other was some shop special roll that had smoked salmon but otherwise was like futomaki without the tamago.

The guides also say you supposed to turn the sushi over and only get the fish wet not the rice. But liquid rolls right off the fish, so I don't see the point personally.

I originally wrote whet not wet, it took me a few minutes of staring at the word wondering why it didn't look right.

But if I am at a traditional sushi bar and the guy making sushi is right there, I'll respect his ability and not use it in my sauce.

when you dip the fish in the sauce, you are really only supposed to do so to add a bit of the salty tang. If you are dipping for more effect, you are losing the appeal of the fish. Many fish will absorb some of the sauce, due to the way it's cut. If it just rolls off, then the fish isn't very fresh.

From what I hear, you'd think that merely existing in Japan is ill-mannered.

Infidel wrote:Ah? The cultural notes say that's ill mannered. It's supposedly to be put on the fish only not the sauce.

If you get REAL sushi, there is already wasabi inside, so you don't need to add any to your soy sauce.

However, if you are eating some other dish that has raw fish with no wasabi (like sashimi or one of the various 丼's), it is quite common to mix wasabi into your soy sauce...

Just to recap: I've never seen someone add wasabi to soy sauce at a sushi restaraunt. (If there isn't enough wasabi, just ask the chef to make it with heavy wasabi)
And I can't remember a time when I HAVEN'T seen someone add wasabi to soy sauce when eating sashimi.

Really?? The day before yesterday I went to the sushi train in the city and I saw someone mix their soy sauce and wasabi. It was the first time I'd ever seen this! And I lived in Japan for 3 1/2 years!!

Really?? The day before yesterday I went to the sushi train in the city and I saw someone mix their soy sauce and wasabi. It was the first time I'd ever seen this! And I lived in Japan for 3 1/2 years!!

Because they (usually) don't do it with sushi.

Of course, sushi was never mentioned in the original post, so we didn't know how to respond.
(i.e. no context!)

I'm not even sure what brought that image to your mind, but I'm sorry you had it.. refried rice? Wasn't it done right the first time?

and as for the beef, cooked in Soy sauce, I believe that would be covered as I mentioned above, in the 'cooking' reference. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps in scanning my comment, you two just blew over that?